BlackRock eyes secondary JSE listing by the end of October

JOHANNESBURG - Global investment management corporation BlackRock on Tuesday said that it was exploring a potential secondary listing of its Greater Europe Investment Trust on the JSE by the end of next month.

The BlackRock Greater Europe Investment Trust (BRGE), worth R5.5 billion, has its primary listing on the London Stock Exchange.

BlackRock South Africa managing director Barbara Vintcent said: “We believe that a listing will present a very attractive, and easily accessible, investment opportunity for the South African investor seeking capital growth as the European economic recovery gets under way. European equity markets provide the scope to invest in a range of market leading and globally competitive companies on attractive ratings.”

The listing was planned for the end of November, subject to generating a minimum level of demand. Private equity advisor PSG Capital were acting as corporate advisors and sole book runner to BRGE in the country.

The corporation said a local listing of BRGE would provide qualifying South African investors with the opportunity to invest directly on the local bourse into an investment trust which “aims to provide capital growth, primarily through investment in a focused portfolio”.

The portfolio would be constructed from a combination of the securities of large, mid and small capitalisation European companies, “together with some investment in the developing markets of Europe” such as Russia and Ukraine.

“The strategy of BRGE is to identify companies with strong management teams, high growth prospects and that have high barriers to entry in their chosen markets.”

The firm said BRGE was managed by the BlackRock European Equity Team, consisting of 20 portfolio managers and sector analysts, managing a total of £31.9billion (R573.64bn) across various investment strategies. “The investment team is optimistic about regional growth prospects and is identifying attractively valued opportunities.”

BlackRock, which opened its South African office in Cape Town in 2012, said it was committed to expanding its operations to the institutional and retail investment community in the country.